Plan Converted to Cash Balance Plan?

[Guest MC2]

A multiemployer pension plan stopped using an equivalency method in which hours of service were calculated into units and converted into years of credited service to credit participants. Recently, the plan began to credit participants with their actual hours of service. The plan now credits a Participant three cents (3¢) per hour for each hour worked in covered employment for each calendar year. Is the plan now considered to be a cash balance plan?

[Effen]

I doubt it. The 3 cents per hour is probably just the way it determines the accrued benefit. For example, if you worked 1000 hours, you accrue a benefit of $30 per month. This is not uncommon in the multiemployer world.

All that said, the plan document will tell you the answer.